By: Michael Spiers

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

If the opening weekend of Georgia high school football told us anything about Region 1-7A, it’s that nobody should expect many easy Friday nights once region play begins.

Camden County, Valdosta, Lowndes and Richmond Hill all opened with victories, while Colquitt County suffered the region’s lone defeat. That makes Region 1-7A a combined 4-1 after week one.

Of course, we’re only talking about one game. Nobody wins a region championship in August. But first impressions are still important, and each of the five teams gave us something to think about.

Let’s start close to home with Camden County. The Wildcats’ 35-21 victory at Brunswick might have told us something about Tucker Pruitt’s first Camden team that won’t show up in the box score.

Camden led 14-7 Friday night when lightning interrupted the game. After a lengthy delay, the decision was made to suspend play and resume Saturday morning.

Think about that from a high school player’s perspective. You prepare all week, travel to a rival’s stadium, get yourself emotionally ready, play one quarter….. and then go home. A few hours later, you’re getting up, loading the buses and doing it all over again.

Brunswick tied the game at 14 before halftime Saturday, but Camden responded by taking control in the second half.

That’s a pretty good first test for a new coaching staff.

Valdosta probably made the loudest statement of anybody in the region. The Wildcats went on the road and absolutely dismantled Jones County, 52-14.

It’s only Week One, but putting 52 points on the scoreboard away from home gets my attention. If anyone wondered whether Valdosta would once again be a serious factor in Region 1-7A, the first answer appears to be yes.

Lowndes wasn’t quite as explosive, but the Vikings did exactly what good football teams are supposed to do.

Jenkins scored first, but Lowndes responded with 31 unanswered points and cruised to a 31-6 victory.

The game itself was delayed nearly two hours by lightning, so apparently Mother Nature decided everybody in South Georgia needed a little extra adversity on opening night.

Richmond Hill had a much more stressful evening. The Wildcats escaped Effingham County with a 22-21 victory after Effingham scored on a long touchdown run with just over two minutes remaining. The potential tying extra point was blocked, allowing Richmond Hill to survive.

It wasn’t pretty, but I’ve never seen a standings column that asks how pretty the win was.

And then there’s Colquitt County. The Packers drew easily the toughest opening assignment of anyone in the region, facing defending Class 5A state champion Thomas County Central. Still, I don’t think anybody expected a 57-21 final score.

I’m certainly not ready to write off Colquitt after one game against one of Georgia’s best programs. The Packers have earned far too much respect over the years for that kind of overreaction. But 57-21 is still 57-21.

So what did we learn? Maybe nothing. It’s August. But we did get our first clues.

Camden showed resilience. Valdosta showed firepower. Lowndes took care of business. Richmond Hill found a way to survive. And Colquitt discovered it has some work to do.

The best part is that none of these teams have played each other yet. Eventually they will. And judging by the first weekend, Region 1-7A might be every bit the fight we expected it to be.